Song of the Day 11/21: Gordon Lightfoot, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment by on November 21, 2019

When the ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975, it was among the worst maritime disasters in the history of the Great Lakes, but it’s a safe bet that few outside the shipping community would remember it today were it not for Gordon Lightfoot’s ballad commemorating the event. Rather incredibly, it became one of Lightfoot’s biggest hits, reaching No. 1 in Cashbox and No. 2 in Billboard despite sounding like an old English folk song. That wouldn’t have raised eyebrows in the early ’60s, but this was 1976, the dawn of the disco era; the song that kept it from reaching No. 1 with Billboard was Rod Stewart’s “Tonight’s the Night.”

Its ear-catching departure from most popular music of the day made it a ripe platform for parodies. Comedian Richard Jeni once joked that it’s the perfect song to play when you want your party guests to leave. But Lightfoot, inspired by a Newsweek article, wrote the song with somber intent — all royalties from it went, and still go, to a scholarship fund for the families of the sailors who died in the wreck. Lightfoot considers it his finest work.

The wreck was discovered the next year, lying in two pieces in over 500 feet of water just 15 miles from port. Experts still aren’t sure what caused the ship’s demise. An annual commemoration is held every year at Whitefish Bay, and though Lightfoot took some poetic license on a few details, the bell-ringing ceremony — using the ship’s bell retrieved from the wreck before the Canadian government made the site off-limits to divers — is just as the lyrics describe. The bell is rung 29 times, once each by a survivor of one who perished. It is then rung a 30th time for the other 30,000 mariners known to have died on the Great Lakes.

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  1. Nancy Willing says:

    heh, I have a story about this song. I was employed for a stint at the UD Blue and Gold Club, the dining establishment for UD elite that is now the Biden Insitutue (no tips, thanks) was a fun gig, low stress and one of the many PT jobs I probably had at the time.

    We got word one night that Gordon Lightfoot was playing Mitchell Hall and wanted some specific foods to eat. I was sent over with the van to serve him! And I stayed backstage while he sang the Edmund Fitzgerald ballad to an appreciative crowd.

  2. Windowpane says:

    That is a good story. I’m guessing Canadian bacon, eh?